Ashmore shares fall as CEO announces stake sale plan
Strong results
Ashmore Group shares fell over 5% on Thursday after CEO and founder Mark Coombs revealed plans to sell down his stake in the company.
Coombs, who owns 39% of the emerging markets specialist manager, will reduce his stake "to a more appropriate level" by selling up to 4% of the firm's stock each year into the market.
On the news, Ashmore shares dropped 7% to 384p by mid-morning trading.
"He continues to be fully committed to Ashmore in his current role," Ashmore said in a statement.
Last October, Coombs came under fire from shareholders after proxy advisory firm Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) recommended shareholders vote against proposals that would give Coombs more control without offering a takeover premium.
The emerging markets specialist usually returns excess capital via dividends but proposed to move to a share buyback programme, which, if Coombs did not participate in, his stake would rise.
Ashmore's AUM rose $2.8bn to $76.7bn in the six months to the end of December bolstered by net inflows of $2.4bn.
Meanwhile, the firm posted revenue growth of 13%, driven mainly by an 18% increase in net management income and performance fees of £1.2m.
Over the past six months, Coombs said there had been a "disproportionate" interest in Argentina and Turkey last year, which both faced idiosyncratic risks and the outlook for emerging markets remained positive.
IW podcast: Are emerging markets still the future of the global economy?
"Emerging markets are in good health with high GDP growth, low inflation, attractive valuations and, after a slight pause in allocations at the end of 2018, there is renewed momentum in capital flows," he continued.
"The temporary factors that supported the US dollar in 2018 are fading, and consequently emerging markets assets are performing strongly."
More on Funds
